My little brother Sam buying fish for dinner

To negotiate the price of fish with the fish mongers, my dad and his buddies (the cowboy duo) pulled table and chairs to the road and brought down the price in exchange of a couple swigs of booze.

Traditional market

Feeling the peace

off on a long explore...

A LONG EXPLORE AROUND THE ISLAND

Progress has brought with it great roads to circumvent the island. With camera in tow, I went on an adventurous explore. The beauty of this place is incredible

Chinese workers on their way home

Malabo plans to host the African Soccer Championship in the future

MAD CONSTRUCTION

Cranes, construction, trucks, dust!! Even way out in this remote place. I am not really sure what all of this will do to the amazing rain forest environment of Malabo. It is all amazing and a bit sad.

There are hundreds of Chinese construction workers that are building the new Malabo. The construction is financed by oil money and managed by an agreement of both countries.

Chinese couple with my dad (far right) and other helpers
Flying Papaya

Watermelon puppy

THE EARTH, THE MOTHER


Bioko, the island where Malabo is situated, is of volcanic origen. It has the most fertile land I have ever seen. Everything here grows so aggresively. The humidity is 98% year around. There are only 2 seasons here: rainy season and dry season. The dry season is during our winter and it is the best time of the year. There is no rain in the rain forest! During the rainy season (our summer) it rains every day for a couple of hours a day. This is the tropical storm season!
Bioko is ideal to grow any type of crop. During colonial times (Spanish Colony) cocoa was the main cash crop because it was very profitable. The problem with this type of crop is that it is at the mercy of world market and crops that do not sell, cannot be eaten. The alternative is farming edible crops like fruits and vegetables.

With the help of some Chinese friends, my dad has been farming all types of veggies. It is an experimental farm and the produce is at all levels of experimentation...some grow better than others. He produces about 50-100 Kg of vegetables a day but he wants to raise this amount to 1000 Kg/day. It is a project that has no fanancial backing and he is currently financing it with the sales of the produce. The project needs financing so that he can better his irrigation system and expand the farm.

Believe it or not, this is one of the only fresh vegetable farms in the entire country! The future of Africa is in farming and anyone with anyone with a bit of farm knowledge or willingness to participate can contribute.

CHANGES, CHANGES, EVERYTHING IS CHANGING....

Since my last visit to Guinea, many things have change. The Oil!! Back then only natural gas deposits where being exploited. The economy has been affected greatly. New infrastructure are sprouting left and right. Paved highways, cars everywhere, lots of money circulation...This is the new Guinea. Yes, the changes are obvious but not all of them are positive. The new money has created inflation of almost 1000% in 5 years. Something that cost $10 (500 Franco CFAs = $1USD) back then, now costs $100. Something that was $100,000 is now a million bucks!!!

White collar salaries have kept up with the inflation but blue collar salaries and hourly workers have not fared so well. No matter, people seem very happy here and they are really enjoying the new situation. There is poverty but not misery. In general, I found an air of much optimism here.

IS IT HOT OR IS IT JUST ME?

You notice it from the time you enter the Malabo airport...the heat, the humidity and its great ally...uncontrollable sweat. They become your inseparable travel friends. With all the humidity, sweat does not evaporate from your body. When sweat does not evaporate, the body does not cool off. When the body does not cool off, you core temperature rises and you begin to sweat behind the ears, the chin and I think even your elbows suffer. All your pores are working over time which makes for an amazing sensation. Sometimes, I even felt high and giddy from the heat, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.